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NOPE · AI and people

AI incidents

Reports of AI-related harm and adverse experiences affecting people’s safety, wellbeing, rights and livelihoods. Explore what happened and the evidence available.

NOPE’s core concern is when AI communicates with a person, acts on their behalf, or depicts or impersonates them. The tracker also records consequential decisions, claims and privacy harms involving AI. Each case needs a described connection between AI use and the harm, including private information recorded into or disclosed to an AI service. Each account is reviewed for publication; claims may remain uncorroborated or disputed. How we review and count cases

In this selection

Published cases
51
Countries with reported events
23
Located 43 of 51 cases · 8 unknown
Languages in checked sources
17
Recorded for 51 of 51 cases

2 cases have no reviewed AI-to-person relation yet: 0 not yet reviewed and 2 reviewed as unknown. Show these cases

These figures describe the cases collected by NOPE. Coverage varies with discovery, reporting and available evidence. They do not estimate how often AI-related harm occurs.

Response counts currently use each case’s principal recorded outcome. Further proceedings may be described in its account.

Cases in this selection, counted once in their first known event year. A series may continue beyond that year. Reporting and collection dates are excluded. NOPE has searched recent events more thoroughly than earlier years, so bar heights also reflect collection effort.

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51 of 1099 published cases · page 1 of 3

Nov 2025 to May 2026ItalyUnidentified voice-cloning tool

Rome Carabinieri say phone fraud suspects used AI software to clone relatives' voices in calls that took money from mostly older residents

The Carabinieri of the Compagnia Roma Centro announced on 3 June 2026 that they had reported 44 people to the judicial authorities as the alleged perpetrators of 39 completed or attempted phone frauds committed between November 2025 and May 2026. According to the Carabinieri account relayed by RomaToday, Fanpage, RaiNews and Il Messaggero, the fraudsters posed as bank staff or police, faked the caller number shown on the victim's phone (spoofing) and used artificial-intelligence software to clone the voices of the victims' relatives, then invented threats to savings or road accidents involving children or grandchildren so that victims made urgent bank transfers or topped up payment cards held by accomplices. The victims were mostly older residents of Rome. The Carabinieri recovered money, gold and jewellery estimated at over 900,000 euros. The outlets do not describe an individual victim, do not say how many of the 39 cases involved a cloned voice, and do not say how the investigators established that the voices were AI-generated.

Core concern Medium reported severity Investigation Opened

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 4 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 02/11/2026

21 Oct 2025IrelandUnidentified video tool

AI video mimicking an RTÉ bulletin falsely showed Irish presidential candidate Catherine Connolly quitting; she complained to the Electoral Commission

On the night of Tuesday 21 October 2025, three days before Ireland's presidential election, a video mimicking an RTÉ News bulletin appeared on Facebook and other platforms in which AI-generated versions of an RTÉ presenter and of independent candidate Catherine Connolly announced her withdrawal, and an AI-generated RTÉ political correspondent said the election was cancelled. An emeritus professor of computing told BBC Verify that over-pronounced lip movements and a slight aura around the reporter gave the video away, and the Electoral Commission called it an AI-generated video and escalated it to the platforms. Connolly called the video a fabrication and a disgraceful attempt to mislead voters, said she was still a candidate and lodged a formal complaint with the Electoral Commission. Meta removed the posting account for impersonation and YouTube removed the video and its channel; the Irish Examiner reported that it could still be viewed on X.

Core concern Low reported severity Media Coverage

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution supported · 4 sources · Added 02/11/2026

Oct 2025United KingdomUnidentified video tool (suspected)

Fact-checker Full Fact says a video of Tory MP George Freeman announcing a defection to Reform UK was likely AI-made; he reported it to police

In October 2025 a video spread on Facebook and X that appeared to show George Freeman, the Conservative MP for Mid Norfolk and a former science minister, announcing that he was leaving the Conservatives to join Reform UK. Full Fact said on 20 October that the clip was very likely made using artificial intelligence: it matched his outfit and the Westminster background to a video he posted in April 2020, described the audio as stiff and unnaturally even, and said AI appeared to have been used to lip-sync the false words, while noting that an impersonator could not be ruled out. Freeman called the video an AI-generated deepfake made without his knowledge or consent and reported it to police. Norfolk Police said it was contacted on 16 October by the office of an MP about the video and opened an investigation into a potential false-communications offence. Freeman later told the Observer that friends and colleagues had sent him messages accusing him of betrayal, that Meta told him the video did not breach its guidelines, and that he found no law against the use of his identity; LBC reported in March 2026 that police told him it was not illegal. An anonymous creator told a local newspaper the video was made to show that people cannot tell fact from fiction.

Core concern Low reported severity Investigation Opened

AI involvement suspected · Causal attribution supported · 6 sources · Added 31/10/2026

1 Dec 2025CzechiaUnidentified legal research tool

Czech Constitutional Court fines a lawyer 25,000 crowns over a complaint citing non-existent rulings; the lawyer says a paid legal AI tool drafted it

On 1 December 2025 the presiding judge of a chamber of the Czech Constitutional Court fined a Prague lawyer 25,000 crowns (a quarter of the statutory maximum) for grossly obstructing proceedings. The lawyer had filed a constitutional complaint, for a client refused a temporary residence permit, that argued from 12 decisions of the Constitutional Court and the European Court of Human Rights; the court found that a substantial part of them did not exist and part were grossly misinterpreted. The order says the complaint showed signs of generative AI and that the court presumed the lawyer had generated it with an AI model and then failed to verify the citations. The lawyer confirmed to INFO.CZ that an AI tool was used, described it as a paid professional model from a legal information system provider, said the output was not checked enough, and expressed regret. The court invited the client to correct the complaint so that the client would suffer no procedural harm; the complaint was later rejected as manifestly unfounded on 30 January 2026. INFO.CZ reported on 10 December 2025 that the lawyer had apologised and paid the fine and that the Czech Bar Association's supervisory board was examining the case.

Core + contextual relations Low reported severity Regulatory Action

AI involvement supported · Causal attribution established · 5 sources · Added 26/10/2026

May 2025Event location unknownUnidentified video tool

AI-altered video showed Pope Leo XIV giving an address to Burkina Faso's leader that he never gave; Vatican News disowned it and AFP found AI audio

In May 2025, days after his election, a video circulated on YouTube, Facebook and X in which Pope Leo XIV appears to read an English-language address praising Burkina Faso's military leader, Captain Ibrahim Traoré. The Holy See's Vatican News service published an article on 21 May saying the speech had been created with artificial intelligence and falsely attributed to the Pope, and that footage from his 12 May audience with journalists had been morphed so that his lips matched AI-generated words. AFP Fact Check traced the footage to the same press audience, where the Pope spoke in Italian and did not mention Africa or Traoré, and reported that an audio forensic tool gave a 99 percent probability that the audio was AI-generated. CNA reported in September 2025 that the video received at least a million views before YouTube terminated the account that posted it, and that the Vatican's communications office spends much of its time reporting accounts that post AI videos of the Pope. The YouTube channel's description, as AFP reports, called the video a work of fiction.

Core concern Low reported severity Media Coverage

AI involvement supported · Causal attribution supported · 3 sources · Added 25/10/2026

14 Oct 2025United KingdomUnidentified image tool

Central Scotland: man jailed after court hears he used a Telegram AI 'nudify' bot to make indecent pseudo-images of a teenage girl and shared one

According to court reports by STV News, a prosecutor told a sheriff court in central Scotland that police who searched a man's tablet found a chat between him and an artificial intelligence bot on Telegram that generates nude pictures from images of real people. The prosecutor said he used the bot to generate 12 indecent pseudo-images of a female child, identified as a teenage girl known to him, and that on 14 October 2025 one of the images was distributed between him and other users of an anonymous chat app. He pleaded guilty in August 2026 to downloading and distributing child sex abuse images, and on 21 October 2026 the sheriff jailed him for 12 months and placed him on the sex offenders' register for ten years.

Core concern High reported severity Involving minors Criminal Charges

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution supported · 2 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 22/10/2026

25 Jan 2025 to 4 Apr 2025IndiaUnidentified video tool

Karnataka police say an AI-generated Trump video promoted a fake 'Trump Hotel Rental' investment app; a lawyer lost about Rs 5.9 lakh

Police in Karnataka, India, said in May 2025 that cybercriminals used an AI-generated video of US President Donald Trump to draw people into a fake 'Trump Hotel Rentals' investment scheme run through a mobile app. A lawyer told police and the Indian Express that in January 2025 he saw short YouTube videos offering investment in Donald Trump hotels, downloaded the app, and deposited Rs 5,93,240 between 25 January and 4 April 2025 after small early payouts, then could not withdraw anything. Police registered a case under the IT Act and the cheating provision of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and froze Rs 1.5 lakh in a recipient account. Reports describe more than 200 complaints across Karnataka districts with losses near Rs 2 crore; how many of those people saw the video is not established. The technical basis for the police description of the video as AI-generated is not disclosed.

Core concern Medium reported severity Investigation Opened

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 3 sources · Added 21/10/2026

18 May 2025 to 20 May 2025United StatesUnidentified AI writing tool

Syndicator says freelancer used AI without disclosure and ends its relationship with him after reading list of nonexistent books ran in Chicago Sun-Times

On Sunday 18 May 2025 the Chicago Sun-Times print and e-paper editions carried a licensed special section, the Heat Index, whose summer reading list recommended books that do not exist. The newspaper said the list was created through the use of an AI tool and that King Features, the syndicator, had worked with a freelancer who used an AI agent to help build the section. Ars Technica's check found that only five of the fifteen recommended books exist, the rest being fabricated titles attributed to real authors. The freelancer told 404 Media, as relayed by Ars Technica, that he had used AI and had not checked the material this time. King Features said the freelancer used AI in its story development without disclosing it, contrary to its policy, and that it was terminating its relationship with him.

Core concern Low reported severity Internal Action

AI involvement supported · Causal attribution supported · 2 sources · Added 21/10/2026

2025AustraliaChatGPT

Victorian exam authority says student who used ChatGPT on a smuggled phone during a 2025 VCE exam admitted the breach and had marks reduced

The Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA) said on 19 October 2026, as reported by The Age, that during the 2025 VCE exams a student smuggled a smartphone into an exam, uploaded exam questions to ChatGPT and attempted to pass off the AI-generated answers as their own before an exam supervisor caught them. According to the authority, the student admitted the breaches and had their marks reduced after a review. The student was one of 109 students the VCAA investigated for cheating in the 2025 VCE exams, up from 87 in 2024. The report does not identify the student, the school, the subject or the size of the reduction. The account is the exam authority's, relayed by one outlet.

Core concern Low reported severity Internal Action

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution supported · 1 source · Added 20/10/2026

2025Event location unknownUnidentified image tool

Brazilian court orders Telegram to pay a woman damages after it ignored her reports of a group sharing AI-made fake intimate images of her

A civil court in Goiânia, Brazil (32ª Vara Cível) ordered Telegram in a judgment signed on 6 October 2026 to pay R$10,000 in moral damages to a woman whose fake intimate images, created with artificial intelligence, were shared on the platform. According to the judgment as reported by Portal 6 (citing the legal news site Rota Jurídica) and O Popular, Telegram users used AI tools to alter photos that she and her sisters had posted on social media into nude and sexual images, and shared them without consent in a group of more than 120 participants with offensive sexual comments. She reported the group to Telegram through its support channels, including a notification on 29 July 2025, and received no reply; the group had 98 participants then and at least 123 a month later. The court held Telegram liable because it did not remove the posts after notification, ordered removal of the material, measures to block identical or similar copies, and disclosure of data identifying the group's creators and users. Telegram did not contest the case and did not answer O Popular.

Core concern Medium reported severity Lawsuit Ongoing

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution supported · 2 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 19/10/2026

Jun 2025MalaysiaVeo 3 (reported)

Malaysia: hotel worker says elderly couple travelled from Kuala Lumpur to Perak for a cable car shown in an AI-generated news video

A hotel worker in Perak, Malaysia, said in a Threads post on 30 June 2025 that an elderly couple checking in asked whether she had ridden the cable car at Kuak Hulu, telling her they had travelled from Kuala Lumpur for it. They had seen a nearly three-minute video in which a journalist from a 'TV Rakyat' channel appears to introduce a 'Kuak SkyRide' cable car and interview visitors. The worker says she explained the video was AI-generated; the woman asked why anyone would lie when there was even a reporter in it and said she wanted to sue the journalist, and the couple said they had been too embarrassed to check with their children. The Baling district officer acknowledged that the content was AI-generated, and the acting district police chief said checks found no such cable car and that no report of losses had been received. A Fast Company column says the video carried a Veo3 logo. Who made the video is unknown.

Core concern Low reported severity Media Coverage

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 3 sources · Added 19/10/2026

Jun 2025PolandUnidentified image tool

Central Poland: pupils reportedly used an AI app to make a nude image of a classmate under 15; prosecutors reopened the case after the data regulator intervened

In June 2025, according to OKO.press, a group of pupils at a primary school in central Poland took a classmate's photo from the internet, used an application that offers to "undress" people in uploaded photos to generate a nude image bearing her face, posted it on the school's Instagram profile and urged others to order more such images. Poland's Personal Data Protection Office (UODO) says the girl was under 15 and notified the police, but the police declined to open proceedings and the prosecutor's office upheld that decision, finding no prohibited act; Gazeta Prawna reports that they considered the AI-generated material not pornographic and the pupil unharmed. The UODO president appealed to the Prosecutor General, in January 2026 the authority announced that prosecutors had informed it they were taking up the case again, and in June 2026 it said its president had recently asked once more for the investigation to be resumed. The application is not named.

Core concern High reported severity Involving minors Investigation Opened

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 5 sources, 2 underlying accounts · Added 19/10/2026

17 Jan 2025 to 4 Nov 2025United StatesGemini and Sora (reported)

Queens prosecutors say a City Council candidate used AI to fake endorsements and news reports, including a video saying his opponent quit

The Queens District Attorney charged a former candidate for New York City Council District 29 with forgery in June 2026, alleging that from January to November 2025 he posted AI-generated images, fake news articles and videos on his campaign's Facebook and Instagram accounts. Prosecutors say subpoena records and search warrants show he prompted an AI platform to face-swap himself into a photo shaking hands with former Council Member Robert Holden for a fake New York Post endorsement story, used Google Gemini to make a fake Amsterdam News article saying his opponent, Council Member Lynn Schulman, was questioned by police, and posted a Sora-generated newscast announcing that she had dropped out. They also allege AI videos of apparent police officers and children endorsing him. In October 2025 Holden's chief of staff told the Queens Daily Eagle the handshake image was fake and AI-generated, and Schulman said her opponent was lying about her and creating fake news. The accused said his accounts were hacked and later told the AP he would not confirm or deny making the posts.

Core concern Low reported severity Criminal Charges

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 3 sources · Added 19/10/2026

Dec 2025United StatesUnidentified video tool (suspected)

Pennsylvania police charge a student with harassment after reported AI videos of freshman girls; district says an app animated their photos

In December 2025 a high school in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, told families about an AI-generated video reported to depict several students inappropriately. Parents told the Philadelphia Inquirer that five freshman girls were told by boys that a male classmate had made sexual videos of them; the girls never saw the videos. The parents say police told them the classmate acknowledged making videos of the girls dancing in thong bikinis with an app later deleted from his phone. A January 2026 district message, which the district says was co-written by the police, said a student used an app that animates publicly available photos to make them appear to move and dance, and that no evidence of anything inappropriate was found. The township police said they had investigated the possible use of AI to generate non-consensual sexualized imagery of multiple juveniles and charged a juvenile with harassment. One mother said everyone stared at her daughter at school and that she felt no one believed her. The app is unnamed and the videos were not recovered.

Core concern Medium reported severity Involving minors Criminal Charges

AI involvement suspected · Causal attribution alleged · 5 sources · Added 18/10/2026

Feb 2025GermanyUnidentified image tool

Hannover region: a pupil told a tipster he made AI nude images of female classmates and sent them on Telegram; police confirm the case, FAZ reports

The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported on 15 October 2026 that a tipster who monitors abuse of women streamers had traced a schoolboy at a school near Hannover, Germany, who distributed AI-generated nude images of female classmates. According to the tipster, on 20 February 2025 a Telegram user wrote to him privately, said he had made nude images of classmates with artificial intelligence and sent him images unasked. The tipster says the images were made from the girls' Snapchat and Instagram photos and from photos taken of them in the classroom, and showed them nude and in sexual positions. He identified two of the depicted girls online, worked out the boy's school and class, and phoned the headteacher, who confirmed his call to the newspaper. The Hannover police confirmed the facts, said the person identified is a child below the age of criminal responsibility, and said officers held a warning talk with him and explained the possible consequences of his use of digital media. The headteacher says the pupil no longer attends the school and that, on police advice, the girls were not told. The school is not named.

Core concern High reported severity Involving minors Internal Action

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 1 source · Added 18/10/2026

Aug 2025Event location unknownUnidentified video tool

Full Fact finds AI deepfakes of UK public-health academics made to promote menopause supplements on TikTok; depicted professors object

In a December 2025 investigation, the fact-checker Full Fact reported that social media accounts were using AI-generated deepfakes of real doctors and academics, made from real footage, to promote supplements, with many links to the US company Wellness Nest. Professor David Taylor-Robinson of the University of Liverpool learned on 11 August 2025 that TikTok carried footage of his real conference talk altered so that a fake version of him discussed a supposed menopause symptom and recommended a Wellness Nest probiotic; The Guardian reported 14 such videos. TikTok at first found no violation, and removed the account after Full Fact contacted it on 24 September, calling the delay a moderating error. He said he became more and more irritated, that removal was a faff and that people who know him could have been taken in. Full Fact also found eight videos of Duncan Selbie, former head of Public Health England, who called them a complete fake. Wellness Nest denied running the accounts or using AI-generated content. The tool used is not identified.

Core concern Low reported severity Internal Action

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution supported · 2 sources · Added 18/10/2026

2025United StatesGoogle AI Overviews (reported)

Missouri pizzeria says Google AI Overviews told customers about specials that do not exist, and that angry customers demanding them yelled at staff

In August 2025 Stefanina's, a family-owned pizzeria in Wentzville, Missouri, posted on Facebook asking customers not to use Google AI to find its specials. The restaurant said Google AI was telling people about specials that do not exist, that this was causing angry customers to yell at its employees, and that it would not honour the Google AI specials. Staff told KMOV and FOX 2 that the AI Overview at the top of Google Search had shown deals such as a large pizza for the price of a small one and a second pizza for $4. A manager described a customer who came in asking for a special the manager had never heard of, found in the AI-generated first search response, and said customers kept asking why the specials were not honoured. Google did not respond to either station. The account comes from the restaurant; no AI Overview text or customer account was published.

Core concern Low reported severity Media Coverage

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 3 sources, 2 underlying accounts · Added 16/10/2026

May 2025Event location unknownUnidentified video tool

Sweden: police say AI-generated videos of well-known doctors in social media ads led people to fraudulent sites and card fraud; doctors object

In June 2025 the Stockholm police region warned that since the end of May it had received several complaints from people defrauded through social media adverts with AI-generated videos depicting doctors, who appeared to give advice and recommend medicines or vitamins. According to the police, viewers who followed the adverts to fraudulent websites were induced to enter card details, after which a considerably larger sum was charged and the details were stolen. Dagens Nyheter reported that the doctors used included the former state epidemiologist Anders Tegnell and the professor Agnes Wold, who told the paper of being furious. In July 2025 the Public Health Agency of Sweden said fake Facebook films imitating its former state epidemiologist were advertising products for diabetes or asthma, that it had reported them to the police and had asked Meta to remove them; he said it was sad that fraudsters were exploiting vulnerable people. Dagens Nyheter, as relayed by Omni, reported that the investigations were closed because the offences were judged to have been committed abroad. The number of defrauded people and their losses are not stated, and the police do not say how the AI generation was established.

Core concern Medium reported severity Investigation Opened

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 6 sources, 4 underlying accounts · Added 16/10/2026

Jun 2025Event location unknownUnidentified image tool

Pennsylvania man sentenced to prison in a case where prosecutors and court documents say he made AI deepfake nude images of a teenage neighbor

A Bucks County, Pennsylvania, judge sentenced a man to state prison on 14 October 2026 after he pleaded guilty to child sexual abuse material and theft charges. According to court documents and prosecutors, detectives who began investigating him in June 2025 found AI-generated deepfake nude images of a teenage girl he knew, a neighbor, on his devices; her face had been placed on other bodies. The day after the arrest he was recorded entering her family's home and stealing her underwear. Her father described the family's distress in court, and the Inquirer reports that she is struggling at school, taking antidepressants and in therapy. The Philadelphia Inquirer reports a sentence of seven to 10 years. The Bucks County Courier Times gave seven to 12 years in its first report and seven to 20 years after republishing it to update the sentence length. Neither report names the AI tool.

Core concern High reported severity Involving minors Criminal Charges

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution supported · 3 sources, 2 underlying accounts · Added 15/10/2026

Aug 2025South KoreaUnidentified image tool

Busan prosecutors say an investment-fraud suspect used AI images of a fake medical licence and asset records to take 320 million won, then fooled a judge

The Busan Eastern District branch of the prosecutors' office in South Korea announced on 11 February 2026 that it had indicted a man under detention on 6 February for fraud, forging and using private documents, and obstructing official duties by deception. According to the prosecutors, from August to October 2025 he used AI to make fake images of a medical licensing examination certificate and of cryptocurrency holdings, posed as a doctor and businessman with billions of won in assets, and took about 320 million won from victims for supposed cryptocurrency, cruise-ship and medical-centre investments. When police sought his arrest in December 2025, he gave the warrant judge a bank balance certificate showing about 904 million won, which prosecutors say he made by uploading his real certificate to an AI platform and asking it to change the balance; his real balance was 23 won. The judge refused the warrant. Prosecutors later found the certificate was forged and obtained a new warrant. The accused and the victims are not named here.

Core concern High reported severity Criminal Charges

AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 3 sources, 1 underlying account · Added 13/10/2026

Cases may have several effects and sources. Mixed accounts qualify when they include a reported harm or adverse experience. People are counted within individual cases where sources support a number; we do not publish a collection-wide total of distinct people.

A source’s existence, the experience it reports and AI’s causal role are separate questions. A lawsuit records allegations unless a subsequent finding establishes them.

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Last dataset update: 04/11/2026. Dataset available under CC BY 4.0.